Electric-railway switch



(No Model.)

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ELECTRIC RAILWAY SWITCH.

Patented Mar. 19, 1889.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE...

EDWARD BLAKE, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

ELECTRlC RAI LWAY SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 399,732, dated March19, 1889.

Application filed October 22, 1888.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, EDWARD BLAKE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical-RailwaySwitches; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the inven tion, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to railway-switches on tracks where cars arepropelled by electrical power, as hereinafter more fully described, andparticularly pointed out in the claim.

The object of my invention isto provide a suitable means of operatingthe switch by electrical power as the car approaches the same, thecontrolling device being on the car and operated at some determinedpoint 011 the track relative to the switch. A switch of the Varietyknown as a tongue-switch is used, in which a movable tongue on one orboth of the rails directs the wheels of the car in one or the otherdirection, according to the position of the tongue. In my invention thistongue is rigidly attached to its central pivot, which pivot is extendeddownward through the base of the switch into a box below. On the lowerend of this pivot is attached an arm in a similar manner, and this armis provided at its free end with a curved metal bar or rod placedtransversely to said arm, which may be acted 011 by one or more electricmag nets, or electric motors, or solenoids, suitably placed so as tomove the arm to and fro, and therefore to move in a similar manner thetongue of the switch above.

To more fully understand my invention reference is had to the drawingsand to the figures and letters of reference marked thereon, in which-Figure 1 represents a View in perspective of the switch device embeddedin the roadway and beneath the rail. Fig. 2 represents a perspectiveview of a section of the forward platform of a car and a plan view ofthe switch and section of rail. Fig. 3 represents a side Serial No.288,876. (No model.)

the switch-box. Figs. 4 and 5 represent modifications of the device.

Its construction and operation are as follows:

A represents the box; B, the solenoids; C, return-wire; 0, mainleading-wire; D, trolley; E, platform of car; a,switch-pivot; 1),switchtongue; (3, arm attached to pivot; d, end of said arm; 6, armatureattached to arm d; f f g g, circuit-wires; h h, contact-plates; it",metallic brushes; j j, circuit-wires; is, electric switch.

The box A containing the device is embedded beneath the rails, as seenat Fig. 1, two sides of said box being cut away to give a View of theinterior. Placed within this box are the solenoids B B. The switch-pivota (which is journaled in the box A) has rigidly attached to its upperend and outside of the box A the tongue I); also, rigidly attached tothe pivot a, and within box A, is the arm 0. Attached to the extreme end(1 of said arm is the curved rod 6, which projects or extends both waysfrom arm 0 toward or partially into the two solenoids B B, so that eachend of said rod forms an armature for one solenoid, and will be drawntoward or into it when the solenoid is electrically excited.

, The electrical connections of the solenoids are made as follows: Oneend of the circuit of each solenoid f f is connected directly to thereturn-wire O of the circuit from which the car derives itspropelling-current, or is otherwise thoroughly grounded. The other twoends of the circuits g gone for each of the solenoids B B' are led tothe two insulated contactplates h h, placed in such a position near thetrack that they may be touched by the two metallic brushes t z",projecting from the car, one brush for each of the said plates. Thesebrushes are electrically connected by wires j j, through the car by wirea, to the other main leading-wire, O, by which the propelling-current issupplied, or to the service-wire therefrom to the car. The electricalswitch It (see Fig. 2) is put in circuit, so that the current may besent into one plate or the other by moving said switch, or may beentirely out off from the brushes, if so desired. The action iscompleted by allowing the current, by

means of this electrical switch 76, to pass from one main leading-wireinto the car by means of the trolley D or other suitable device, thencethrough wire at and switch 70 into brush 5 t', corresponding contactplate, h, thence through the connecting-wire g and its correspondingsolenoid, B, which will attract the armature (2 toward itself, and thusby means of the mechanism shown operate tongue 7) of the switch andbring it, as shown at Fig. 2, in contact with rail 0. The current thenpasses off into the other main leading or return wire, 0. To moveswitch-tongue b in the opposite direction, the electrical switch 70 isbrought in contact with wirej, thence through brush 2" and itscontact-plate h to the solenoid B. It is quite evident from thisarrangement that the tongue 1) can be operated in either direction. Theelectrical impulse may, if so desired, be used to operate the tongue inone direction only, a weight or spring being used to move it in theopposite direction, as seen at Fig. 5, where the spring on is coiledaround pivot a, one end attached to said pivot and the other end restingagainst pin 19. Longer contact-plates than those shown would be requiredto maintain the electrical current until the car had passed the switch,when the tongue I) would by the action of spring m re turn to its formerposition, and this arrangement would be necessary if the car followingdid not want to use the switch.

If the propelling-current is supplied from a storage-battery on the car,the brushes it" will of course be electrically connected with suchbattery. It is quite evident that the operating-lever or lower arm, 0,may be dispensed with, and the armature e of the solenoids BB may beattached or connected directly by arm Z, as shown at Fig. 4, with theswitch-tongue b, (said view being through dotted line of Fig. 2,) or inany other suitable manner that would give the best results, and this inpractice may be the preferred way. Itis also evident that any other formof electro-magnet or electromotor may be used in place of the solenoidsB B to actuate the switch-tongue. Therefore I do not limit myself to anyparticular form of motor or magnet for this purpose.

Various changes might be suggested and carried out relative to the formof boX con taining the solenoids and mechanism operated by them. Theexact position of the device in relation to the rail, whether one orboth rails arethus equipped, the exact mechanical connection between thetongue and the solenoids, all these may be modified and some of theelements dispensed with or substituted for others without departing fromthe spirit of my invention.

The essential features of my device consist in the combination of arailway-switch actuated by electrical agency with means attached to thecar, substantially as described, for operating the same, thus enablingthe car-driver to electrically set the switch while the car is inmotion.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

The combination of a railway-switch which is actuated in both directionsby an electromotive agency with electric conductors extending from suchelectro-motive agency to contact-makers set near the railway-track, arailway track and car, and means attached to the car for makingconnections through such contact-makers with said conductors,respectively, so as to complete an electric circuit through either ofthem at will, and "thereby to move the switch in either direction.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD BLAKE.

Witnesses:

JAMES E. LEAcH, GEORGE T. CovERLY.

